Clarence,
This is one of the reasons some do not go with Rotax. I know I like the ability of tuning my exhaust with different flex lengths. Gives me a bit more flexibility. But this is my choice. Rotax is great for the recreational karter who does not want to tune. However as some have found that there is still maintenance on a Rotax, like carb tuning (which is a very important), maintaining the powervalue and maintaining the clutch.

Would any of you guys (LOAN) me a rotex?
Most would say (H. NO)!
I've had two of the clone class racers,loan me ready to race motors
clutch included when I have a fresh animal setting on the shelf.
And I did'nt ask them, they ask me!

Wow! I don't know how this got to a Rotax + or - debate. hahahaha. My aim for this thread was not aimed at Rotax or any other class. Just karting as a whole. I will say this, the clones seem to be a true racers engine, for the fact that they seem to be sensitive to tunig and gearing to get every last drop of performance out of them. I know DrChip has a gazillion hours of tuning on his, and it still needs to be faster.hahahahaha _________________Mr. Sideways

The Rotax v Clone debate is really apples and oranges. The better debate would be TAG v Rotax.

John uses that loaded term "recreational" to describe the motor (and driver) and that is certainly true, but he will also admit how competitive a Rotax is against even the best TAGs, especially on certain tracks._________________Tonykart EVRR / Adkins Yamaha

I've never had to have Rick work on my motor besides convert it down to a Micro. I have never frozen or stuck a cylinder on a Rotax. I didn't say Rotax is dummy proof. Clutch is maintenance free besides cleaning it. All I was saying is that I have been running Rotax for 8 years. I would bet if you averaged it out over the life of the motors my cost is very low. Fun factor and track time was very high.

NF, I have seen Rick loan out his shop motor, battery, clutch, carb, jets, etc many times. Most other Rotax guys couldn't loan out their motor because we typically don't carry spares. I had one for a while and it just sat on the shelf and never got run.

I don't see this as a Rotax v Clone debate. Both are great classes for karting. The more karters the better. The only issue I see with Clone is there is really no tech so who knows what people are doing to their motors. And I don't care what anybody says - racers are going to always look for a way to go faster.

BTW, I was told that Thanksgiving Thunder at Carnesville is paying $10k to the winner of their Clone class.

Yes my friend was wrong. He races dirt karts and I was asking him if they were seeing clones at their tracks. He said they called it Box Stock and told me about Carnesville. I guess he thinks a clone is a stock Animal or Flathead.

But there you go Clarence. You should give dirt a try. They have an unlimited class plus open tires. My friend says he comes to the track with 16 different sets of tires and he has a rotisserie machine to prep his tires. I think the machine cost something like 16 clone motors